Ubuntu. WTFPL - Do What The Fuck You Want To Public License. Software patent. A software patent has been defined by the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) as being a "patent on any performance of a computer realised by means of a computer program".[1] Most countries place some limits on the patenting of invention involving software, but there is no legal definition of a software patent. For example, U.S. patent law excludes "abstract ideas", and this has been used to refuse some patents involving software. In Europe, "computer programs as such" are excluded from patentability and European Patent Office policy is consequently that a program for a computer is not patentable if it does not have the potential to cause a "further technical effect" beyond the inherent technical interactions between hardware and software.[2] There is intense debate over the extent to which software patents should be granted, if at all.
Important issues concerning software patents include: Background[edit] Patents are territorial in nature. Jurisdictions[edit] Software Patent Institute - SPI.org. Why We Need To Abolish Software Patents. During my tech days, I co-authored four software patents. Each cost my startup about $15,000—which seemed like a fortune in those days. I didn’t really expect these to give me any advantage; after all if my competitors had half a brain, they would simply learn all they could from my patent filing and do things better. But I needed to raise financing, and VCs wouldn’t give me the time of day unless I could tell a convincing story about how we, alone, owned the intellectual property for our secret sauce. We got the financing, and the plaques of the patents looked great in our reception area, so the expense was worth it. But there was definitely no competitive advantage. New research by Berkeley professors Stuart J.H.
In software, only 24% of startups even bothered to file a patent. Software executives consider patents to be the least important factor for competitiveness. Meanwhile, the U.S. patent system is clogged and dysfunctional. Editor’s note: Guest writer Vivek Wadhwa. Software Patent Index. SourceForge.net: Find, create, and publish Open Source software for free. Welcome to The Apache Software Foundation!